A Day at the Beach
by dudethatsfunky
Summary: Rayla is visiting the Human Kingdom months after everything is settled and Callum want to bring her to the beach. But will Callum have the guts to tell her about how he feels?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Please note that Rayla is talking in her (I think) Scottish accent but I didn't want to attempt to write it that way in fear of making it confusing. Please tell me if I'm wrong. Feel free to give any constructive criticism in reviews or DM me if that's what you prefer. I hope to keep the whole story at the quality presented in the first chapter but sadly there is no guarantee. Also, let me know if I need to change something to apply to any guidelines I may have misunderstood. **

**Please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes but please let me know of them. I won't fix everyone the moment I know about it but will try every time I post a new chapter. I want to make it as enjoyable as I can for everyone.**

**World lore: same as show up to the end of season 2. They return Zym and head back home, Viren is dealt with and Aravos is nowhere to be seen.**

**I do not own: The Dragon Price, or any movies, music, tv shows, or video games that I may take ideas from.**

Callum was nervous. Sure he had faced dragons and angry elves constantly over a couple of month period last year, but none of that compared to now. Now, some people would ask why he would be nervous? It might be because he was going to the beach… with a girl… that he liked.

"What am I doing!" Callum hissed as he grasped his head and paced the Kitchen floor in front of his Aunt, Gren, Ez, and Bait. Bait grumbled as he opened his eye from his early morning napping place on Ez's lap.

"Callum, stop worrying about this." Ez took another bite of jelly tart. One of the perks of being King is that he doesn't have to steal them anymore even if some joke that a fifth of the kingdom's budget went to the bakers. "She wouldn't have agreed to travel all the way here just to spend time alone with you unless she wants too."

"I know, I know." He replied as his pace increased. It was a good thing that the floor was made from stone or else he might make a rut.

Amaya nudges Gren and then starts signing, "Oh. I still don't see why you won't let some guards join you. It would be all too easy for… you to accidentally get sucked out to sea by the riptide." She looks at him again, frowning, and she repeats the last set of hand gestures. Now it's Gren turn to frown and looks away from her as he rubs the back of his head. "The guards would also be good at keeping other people from interrupting you."

Amaya just leans back in her chair and accepted that her distrust of elves wouldn't be shared by him and Callum was too distracted to focus on her for long enough for her to get her point across. She then looks at the plate of Jelly tarts with a raised eyebrow, shrugs, and starts eating one too. Hmm, maybe this was a good use of the budget.

Callum turns toward his aunt as she grabs the tart, "I know that you still don't trust her yet even after all the stories we've told you about her _saving our lives!" _Then he glances at Gren with a small smile to show him that he didn't miss his attempts to save him from his Aunts predigest. "I'm not worried about anyone finding us, by the way, Gren as it's a little off the beaten path and no one thinks too much of it."

"Then dear brother, why would you be so nervous if those aren't the reasons?" Ez asked with big innocent eyes and a slight smirk that he couldn't keep hidden. Of course, they all knew the real reason as they had seen how sad he was when he reached the castle after splitting with Rayla at the border. And how he caused some mayhem in the castle as he rushed to get each of her letters as soon as he could. And on one such letter, Rayla must have mentioned that she missed seeing Callum's art as the next letter had to be sent by three different crows thanks to all the drawing he had included. Ez even noticed him pick up the hobby of calligraphy ever since he got the first letter from Rayla only a week after he got back.

He shot his brother a frown and went back to pacing as he saw Ez shrug and chuckle. Why would Callum be nervous to bring her to the beach? Well, he wasn't since he loved it and knew Rayla would too… as long as they stayed close to the shore. No, he was nervous about finding the words he would need to use to communicate how he felt about her, to her. I'm mean, you can't just walk up to a woman and tell her, I like you. Right? That can't be right, it's just too simple for something so meaningful. And risky, possibly friendship breaking. His stomach seemed to flip at the mere thought of not even being able to be friends. Maybe this was a stupid idea and he should just forget about it and just enjoy the day with an old friend.

Ez noticed his pace slow and saw the resignation in his eyes. Ez put down the jelly tart he was about to finish and wiped his hands. He then got up placing the slightly grouchy Bait on his seat and walked up to grab Callum arm right above the elbow to turn and face him. "Callum, it's going to be ok. She going to think today was a great day no matter what happens. So relax and make sure you enjoy it too and don't be afraid to say what you want too. I've seen the letters that she send us and the letters for you always seem to be a lot longer than mine." Ez lets go of his arm and gives him a hug which Callum slowly returns after taking a deep breath.

"Thanks, Ez. I really hope you're right and I don't know what I'd do without you!" as Callum smiled for the first time today.

Amaya had almost sneered as she is forced to think about the imminent relationship between her sweet nephew and that retched elf. Even she knew what would happen if he told the elf how he felt and for the first time, she hoped that he would chicken out, even if she felt guilty about it. Gren was more open about the idea of living in a world where elves and humans could live in peace with each other and smiled at the expression of love coming from the young brothers. The future couple might even help the negotiation along!

Ez made sure to wait for Callum to let go first and once he did, they both sat down to eat a jelly tart. The conversation turned to business like how the kingdom was doing now that the military had been reduced by over half though everyone could see Callum glancing at the grandfather clock on the wall every couple of minutes. (By the way, it's doing very well! Thanks for asking.)

Rayla felt like she was flying as she moved through the trees on the way to the human kingdom. She was going to get to see him again! Oh, and Ez and Bait. She probably should feel guilty about that but she's too excited to care. He wanted to spend time with her, just the two of them. Or maybe it's just the two of them because Ezran is a King now and he just has some Kingly tasks to take care of. She tried to push those thoughts away as she spotted a small village just up ahead. 'I could stop for a little snack. I'm got plenty of time to still make it to the castle by noon.' she thought as she stopped on a branch and checked to see where the sun was. Then she looked up and down the road that she was traveling next too to make sure she didn't startle anyone when she dropped out of the tree. Thankfully no one was around and she gracefully landed on the side of the road. Even better, with the improved relations between humans and elves, she didn't need to hide. Sure she will probably still get looks from people but from the way that Ez and Callum had explained it. There was a new law for all the human kingdoms about treating elves like they would treat their fellow humans and that any grudges from the war were to be dropped in hopes of a possible future where everyone could live in harmony. Yea, like all humans would agree to that, but a declaration from the King should do enough to keep her safe.

As she walked into the crowded market she noticed that everyone gave her a good six inches distance but no one made a move against her. Of course, she was fine with that as she wandered through all the different shops selling everything from human fruits, meats, trinkets, and even a shop selling paper and ink. She giggled as she wondered how many times Callum had visited this shop. She continued on a little more and even bought two oranges for them to share later. Thankfully, Callum had explained how trading and money work for the humans and she brought a chunk of gold that she had cut into one inch cubes and told that she shouldn't accept let than 10 things of fruit, a pound of meat, three small or one larger trinket even if she was treated badly because she was an elf. Sure she gave the farmer a great price with one of the gold cubes for just two pieces of fruit. Oh well, Xadia had enough gold and the worst that happens is that relations improve.

With the fruit bought and stored in her small bag next to her swimsuit, she continues out the other side of the town jumping back into the trees once she was away from anyone to move faster. Within the next 30 min, she was at the base of the road leading up to the bridge that leads to the castle. She thought back to the climb she made to get into the castle last time and chuckled at the now distant memory. As she started the climb she saw a slow-moving cart filled with fruit and other goods that appeared to a little unstable. This turned out to be correct as when the cart hit the next bump an apple jumped out of the cart which she was able to catch before it hit the ground. 'I may as well make sure they don't lose anything else on the way up. Not like there will be anything else that happens while climbing this hill.' Slowly, she made her way up the hill collecting the 3 apples and 2 oranges that liked to jump out of their crate until they finally made it to the top of the hill. Once she thought nothing more would jump out she approached the front. "Excuse me, I notice some of your fruit was falling out and made sure to grab it. Would you like me to put them back in their crates or is there a better place to put them so they don't fall out?"

"Oh, that was very kind of you to do. I think it would be okay to place them back in their crate now that the rest of the way is flat." The old, kind farmer stopped the cart and hopped down to help her place them back in the crates since he could see she had her hands full. "I appreciate your help, can I give you a ride across the bridge as thanks?"

Rayla thought about it for a second and ending up agreeing as she didn't know if it would be considered rude to decline. Plus it seemed like there was a little bit of a line to get into the gate so it would be no faster if she were to try to rush in. "Uh sure. If you are okay with it."

As they walk back to the front of the cart, "Of course. It would be great to have someone to talk to while I wait to get in miss…"

"It's Rayla. And you are?"

"George," as he reaches out to shake hands, which she returns. He then climbs up and sits on the far side of the bench, patting the right seat on the side closest to her. As she climbs up to sit, "So what is someone like you doing here?"

She finishes sitting down to give herself a moment to gather her thoughts and tucked her hair behind her right ear as she said, "Ah… I'm visiting a friend who lives in the castle." She's nervous as she doesn't know what this human will think of her going to visit the prince and King.

"Oh? And what's would this young noble look like?"

"How, I mean why do you think they are a guy."

he looks over at her with a little smirk and a raised brow. "You don't get to be my age without knowing how to read people, and you didn't say they work here implying that they are permanent residents in the castle itself, but not part of the help." He looks back forward as his smile grows and continues, "Plus I know of only two people in the castle that have spent enough time with certain elves to trust them enough to invite them into the heart of the human Kingdoms."

She blushes at the realization of just how easy it was to see through her. "Fine, I'm here to see the prince and King."

"Don't worry your secret is safe with me. It's actually good to hear about friendship spanning the races." There was a slight pause as he waited to see if she had anything else to say.

Rayla had talked enough about that with the other elves when she started packing to visit a human in another kingdom… or when she got a letter… or sent a letter… or had someone see all the human drawings, including some of her, that are hanging in her room…

"So, how often do you visit the Castle?" As she aimed for a safer topic.

"I make one just about every other week. Most of the times it's for deliveries but sometimes there are events that are held in the castle like the when each of the princes returned, when peace was officially declared, and when most of the arm came back from the breach to return to normal life."

The conversation continued as they asked each other about their lives until they made it to the front gate.

"Hey George. Here for another delivery?"

"Yea John, and also to visit the prince." At this Rayla blush but all she could do was sit there with a straight back.

"That guy? He's been such a pain lately. When he got back he kept to himself but then he seemed to go crazy over a stupid letter. The other Guards and I even joked about tearing the letters up just to stop him from causing chaos. Now he just antsy and no one can get him to relax. It's stressing us out." Then he pauses and remembers that he's working. "Sorry for ranting there. And I was told that the elf that was arriving today was going to see the King, not the Prince?"

"I'm sure she will be seeing both of them."

"Alright, head on in. One of the Guards at the door for the castle will show her around. Make sure to say hi before you leave George."

Rayla relaxed as they got through the gate.

"Well, I believe this is where we split Rayla. I hope that you have a great time with the prince but don't forget to say hi to the King as well.

"I will. Not like there will be much of a choice with someone taking me to see the king."

"True, True," he answers as she hops down and heads to the other side of the courtyard.

As she approaches the door, moving through the significantly less busy courtyard, she notices the three guards hanging out by the door making sure to not close the circle so that people could approach them if the wanted. They noticed her approach and they quickly snapped into their places. One went to the left of the door, one to the right, and one stood 3 feet in front of the door on the right side looking perpendicular to the other two. Then they all lifted their spears in their left hand and pounded them on the ground.

"Recognize one of the Protectors of the Dragon Prince, Rayla!" They all pounded their right fist to the chest and held it for three seconds and then returned to standing positions. The one not next to the door then said, "If you will follow me I will take you to see the King." Once she nodded the two by the door opened the door as the third one entered. She followed his slightly slower pace as he made his way through the castle. She thought she could pick up the noise of someone running but tried not to think too much of it. Finally, he paused in front of another set of doors with a pair of guards as well.

"Rayla of the Protectors of the Dragon Prince is here to see the King." The two new guards repeated the same move as the others did, pounding their fist to their chest and then opened the door to the throne room.

**Well, there is the first chapter. I hope you enjoy it.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Rayla of the Protectors of the Dragon Prince is here to see the King." The two new guards repeated the same move as the others did, pounding their fist to their chest and then opened the door to the throne room. In there, everyone was in position. There were 12 guards in all within the throne room with 6 lining up on the left and 6 on the left. The one closest to the doors on the left appeared to be breathing heavier like he may have run the long way around the castle. Sitting on the throne was Ez and Bait, looking too small in the big chair, with Aunt Amaya and Gren on his left and Callum on his right. Aunt Amaya looked out of place without her armor, but that didn't mean she looked no less intimidating. Callum stood taller than she remembered, but she could see his nervous, yet excited smile. Then she spotted the last two people about 10ft off to the side. Claudia and Soren, the wicked children of the dark mage Viren. Claudia was trying to keep a calm face but failed as her eyes were just a little too wide. Soren just stood there with a bored expression. She didn't trust them even if both Callum and Ez had assured her that they had changed for the better after leaving their father.

As Rayla and the guard escorting her reached approached the throne, Ezran Stood. "Welcome, Rayla! It is an honor to have such a noble warrior in these halls." Ez bowed slightly and brought his fist over his heart. Callum, Claudia, Soren, Gren, and Amaya did the same even if the fierce Human General kept her eyes locked on the elf. The display only lasted a second and as the young King sat back down, "Guards, you are dismissed. You can continue about your day. That includes you two Soren and Claudia." Then he signed to his Aunt as well telling her that he would reconvene with her once Callum and Rayla were on their way. She didn't look happy at being told to leave but after picking up Bait, she slowly followed the others out of the throne room with Gren in tow.

Once the doors closed, the three friends relaxed and broke into huge grins. Rayla was the first to speak, "So, what is the big deal with all the formalities?"

Ez got down and when to hug Rayla, "Well we can't just let the first elf visitor come here without getting the full treatment. Especially the one who helped to bring peace back to the land."

Rayla let go of Ez and looked up to Callum. As she held her arms up, his smile grew and he gave her a great, big hug, "It is great to see you again Rayla. I've been looking forward to it all week." Rayla tried not to read too much into his words as they both squeezed a little more than they needed. She forced herself to let go to avoid any awkwardness.

"Well, would you like to see the castle the easy way?" Ez asked in the hopes of being able to talk with her a little more.

"Will we be running into any guards that I 'meet' last time?" she replied as she almost seemed to cradle herself and gently bit her lip.

"You really didn't run into too many that night so the likelihood is pretty low, but you didn't kill any of them and they have heard what really went on that night so they will be cool," Callum explained he put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be with you too so they would be stupid to try anything."

"Oh good, the human mage will protect me. I feel so much better now?" She offered back sarcastically. "Well, then I guess we should go see how many humans fit in one castle."

"How many elves fit in one castle?" Ez shot back with a pointed finger.

"Oh, I don't know. Uh, we don't really use castle, they would be more like palaces. I guess anywhere from 50 to 150 fit in one depending on the type of elf that live there and the size of the palace. Is that pretty comparable or is it more due to the military presence that lives here?"

"Yea, the number of humans that live here varies often depending on if we're at war or not and troop movements," Ez responds with a hand on his chin as he squints one eye and looks up. "Most of the time, I'd say we have about 150, but we have room for up to 300 when troop levels are high. Remember when we called almost every back from the border, Callum? We may have had up to 400 here for a night. Some had to sleep in the courtyard."

"Yea, Ez. That night certainly was quite the party. We should set one up before Rayla leaves to give her the full experience of being human."

Rayla seemed to pale slightly as she squeezed herself a little tighter. "That's really not necessary guys. I would rather just hang out with you guys."

Ez looked deeper and thought and then responded to Callum as if he hadn't heard Rayla. "All the other human leaders are coming in a little over a week. We could have it that night as I know all the other leaders are curious about her and just what it's like to meet an elf on friendly terms. Two of them may have not ever met an elf."

Callum looked back to Rayla, and if she had looked pale before, then she could have been mistaken for a ghost now. Do ghost shake? "Rayla, relax." Callum walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her, "We will keep it small but it would be good for relations and we will make sure it will be fun. The other leaders are good ones and we'll tell them not to pester you too much. Plus, we will be with you the whole time."

As she looked into his eyes and stilled. His green eyes and soft smile seemed to pause time. Pretty soon she had a soft smile and some color had returned to her face… well to her cheeks at least. She quickly realized this and gave him a quick squeeze. She made the mistake of looking at Ez though, who had the biggest grin. He knew that she liked him. Oh no.

"You know what." Ez started, "I've been thinking about what I need to do, and I think that I can actually join you today."

Rayla's Smile vanished, but it was nothing compared to Callum's reaction. He probably should have to know that he was messing with him, but his emotions were just running too high for him to process that. He whirled around and any smile was gone as his eyes narrowed. "Don't you have that meeting with the mayor of the town later today? I remember the General telling you that it was super important and needs to be done today." His eyes narrowed even more, "Right?"

Ez's smile never faltered as he got all the information he wanted even if he had never seen his brother so mad. Man, did he like this girl. And judging by the way that her face changed, she liked him a lot too. "Right, right. Sorry for getting your hopes up Rayla." he uttered as he rolled his eyes as both Rayla and Callum let out a breathe, "Well, we better get started on the tour so I can make it to that meeting with the mayor later."

With that, they took off showing Rayla where they had grown up and reminded her of the stories they had told her that took place in the hallowed halls. Callum was sure to hold open every door that they came across that didn't already have guards and Rayla slowly relaxed the more they saw. She laughed when Ez showed her some of Callum's first drawings as she couldn't picture him drawing. She guessed everyone had to start somewhere. Callum got the last laugh though, as he introduced her to the chef and let her hear the rambling about the King stealing his jelly tarts. Most people would be scared due to job security but he knows that the King liked his treats the best and as long as he only complained and didn't threaten the King his job was safe. They showed her the gardens where she pretended to look impressed due to any palace in Xadia having multiple gardens that were bigger and better, but they didn't need to know that. Finally, they stood on the top wall looking down into the courtyard while Ez talked about some of the people there.

"And that old man loading the cart with empty boxes is George. He's really nice and used to be on my father's council until he retired a year after I was born." Ez chuckled while thinking of a memory. "My Dad always made sure to invite him to most events, but he wanted a quieter life after retiring. But he always made sure to go to mine. I remember on my eight birthday his present was to tell all the legends from old before the first human had used dark magic. Everyone always agreed that he was the best storyteller."

"He was basically like an uncle to Ez and me with the way he would stir the pot of our family a little but would do anything he could for us. We will have to introduce him to you one day." a frown appeared on his face as if he was thinking. "Ez, it's Saturday but he usually comes on Sundays."

Now Ez was frowning too, "That is weird. He did say that he wanted to meet Rayla with the way we talked about her. Do you think he came here today just for that?"

Rayla started to wonder if he wanted some of the fruit to fall off. How would he even know when to start up the hill or that she would even help her out? As she looks down at him she thinks that she sees him look up and wink at her. No, that crazy she must be seeing things. She didn't have any answers to the question they would ask though so she stays quiet.

Ez shakes his head and accepts that these question won't be answered until they see him next time. "Anyway, it almost 1 o'clock. You guys should probably start heading over to the beach."

"That probably a good idea," Callum replied as he stood up and offered a hand to both of them. She grabbed his left and pulled herself up as Ez did the same with his left hand. Together they started to head down to the stables where they introduced Rayla to a brown horse named Seabiscuit. He was the calmest horse they had and thought it would be the best one to introduce Rayla too. Once they loaded their bags onto her the 3 had one last hug before Callum hoped on and offered a hand to Rayla. Like the graceful elf she is. hopped up elegantly to sit behind him. With a final wave from Ez, they started off leaving the stables and heading through the courtyard. As he was navigating through the crowd she spotted the General with George off to the side. While George was nice enough to give her a thumbs up and a wink the General gave her a hard stare and used two of her finger to point from her eyes to her signifying that she will be watching her. George caught her action and gave a hearty chuckle.

Soon Enough they were through the gate and down the hill, heading southwest toward the beach. Once they were out of the city, they started talking about what they couldn't express in their letters and stories that they had recently heard. One story that both had was the totally accurate retelling of their journey from someone they had never talked too. They laugh at all the 'fake' challenges that they had and how the other race had 'welcomed' them in only to betray them in their sleep. One elf's story even had the reason that Ez had left was that he thought it would be harder for them to return the Dragon Prince. Thankfully there were enough elves there that had heard the story from Rayla and even meet Callum on his way back home, to get up and set him straight. After riding for a little under an hour, Callum started to point out landmarks and saying that they were pretty close.

Rayla was glad to hear that as she was becoming a little saddle sore. Soon enough she could see the water. Callum stopped the horse by a log cabin and hopped down to start taking care of him. Rayla slides off and started to walk toward the sand.

"It might be best to change before you mess around in the sand so you don't get sand in your boots or clothes," Callum warned her before he removed the saddle and put it on the front porch in the shade before he leads the horse around back where the horse pen is. As Rayla entered the cabin change, he shut the gate and grabbed a bucket to fill up with water at the river that ran just north of the cabin. Once he had returned and filled the trough with water he grabs the feed from the shed and put just enough in to feed Seabiscuit. Once he started eating he walked under the apple tree in the pen and made sure to remove all the bad apple that had fallen so they wouldn't make the horse sick.

By this time Rayla had finished changing into her elven one piece that had the same moon-shadow elf colors as her normal clothes, and made her way to the sand and was wiggling her toes in it. Callum quickly darted in and threw on his suit as well. As he left he took one more look at Seabiscuit to make sure he's alright and walked up next to Rayla. "It fun isn't it?" Callum asked as he knelt down to run his fingers through it. Thankfully it is was late spring so the sand was warm but not unbearably hot.

"It is quite nice to feel it shift in-between your toes." As she looked a the off white sand she admired how light it felt. And when you moved it, it seemed to flow around your hand.

"I've been to a couple of beaches and each one seems to have slightly different sand. Sometimes it's browner and feels rougher like the grains of sand haven't been completely smoothed. One beach even had black sand, but I like this kind the best." He slowly raised himself up and started walking toward the water.

Rayla soon followed after him leaving the soft white sand for the darker wet sand that felt stiffer. She noticed something else in the sand a foot ahead and went to grab it.

As he watched he noticed a particularly big wave coming in, "Watch out for that wave." Of course, she just looked up at the water in time for the wave to crest right in-front of her and spray her with salty water. She shot straight up and coughed distracting her enough to trip and fall flat on her butt. Callum breaks into laughter at seeing the usually graceful elf be anything but that and manages to spurt out, "Are you Okay?"

It took her a few seconds to gather herself and turned to glare at him for laughing. But he never did see her glare as she was more aware of the waves now and flipped backward to avoid it. This reaction revived Callum's laughs and it took him a minute to stop even with her glaring at him, wishing that she had her swords to jokingly threaten him with.

"Relax, the waves won't hurt you. It's just unpleasant to get hit with one in the face."

"Darn right that's unpleasant," Rayla mumbled as she slowly relaxed until she stood straight up again, only to notice that Callum seemed shorter. She quickly found the issue of the beach eating him, "It appears the sand is dangerous though. Don't worry, I was trained in how to get someone out of quicksand. Just let me grab some rope and I'll save you." She was about to head back to the cabin to find some rope when he grabbed her arm.

"This is normal sand, not quicksand. Look I can get out anytime I want, it's just the wave removing the sand around me until it looks like it started eating me." Callum gave her a smile. "Trust me. I will warn you of anything hurting you."

She still felt like there was danger nearby but maybe it was just her being nervous since she was alone with him. "Okay," and let him pull her slowly toward the water, proving that he wasn't trapped in the first place.

After a few waves went by he lowered his hand and snagged a white quarter of a circle with a bumpy surface and what looked like a small bar on the narrowed side. "I believe you were trying to get one of these earlier," he said as he took the hand he had kept hold of and flipped it over placing it in the center of her hand. "It's called a seashell and it uses to belong to an animal called mollusks until it outgrew the shell and the wave brought it here."

She looked at it carefully turned it over wondering what other wonders this day would bring.


End file.
